Nikola Vucevic - Draft Prospect Profile

BREAKDOWN: Nikola Vucevic, 6-foot-10, 240-pound junior forward is a multi-talented big man who demonstrates a great feel for the game and can score both inside and outside. He played for the Montenegro national team during the summer.2009-10: Vucevic had a breakout season finishing second on the team in scoring (10.7 ppg) and first in rebounding (9.4 rpg). He lead USC in scoring five times and in rebounding 20 times, including the last nine games. He lead the Pac-10 with 283 rebounds and offensive rebounds per game (6.3) and his 39 blocks were the fourth most in the conference. Vucevic's .504 shooting percentage (126-for-250) led USC and was seventh best in the Pac-10. Vucevic was named the 2009-10 Pac-10 Most Improved Player. He had the second most blocks ever in a season by a Trojan sophomore and the third most rebounds. He started all 30 games for USC and posted 10 double-doubles. He scored 18 points and had eight rebounds in the first game of the season vs. UC Riverside on Nov. 17, both totals better than any of his freshman games. Scored a career-high 19 points and had 11 rebounds vs. LMU on Nov. 21 for his first career double-double. Matched his career high with 19 points on 9 of 12 shooting at UCLA on Jan. 16, scoring 17 points in the second half. Had 18 points and 14 rebounds at Texas on Dec. 3. His other eight double-doubles were vs. Coppin St. on Nov. 27 (15 points/12 rebounds), vs. Sacramento St. on Dec. 8 (14 points/15 rebounds), vs. Tennessee on Dec. 19 (15 points/10 rebounds), vs. Washington on Jan. 23 (11 points/13 rebounds), at Oregon on Jan. 30 (10 points/14 rebounds), vs. California on Feb. 4 (10 points/10 rebounds), vs. Stanford on Feb. 6 (18 points/14 rebounds) and at Washington on Feb. 18 (13 points/10 rebounds). Had a career-high 16 rebounds on Feb. 25 vs. Oregon. Was given the Harold Jones Award as USC's most improved player and the Top Rebounder Award at the team awards banquet.

Personal: Vucevic was born on Oct. 24, 1990 in Switzerland and was raised in Belgium where his father was playing professional basketball. Vucevic's father, Borislav, played professionally for 24 years and was a member of the Yugoslavian national team.He also coached professionally in Belgium. Nikola's mother also played professional basketball in Bosnia. they moved to Montenegro when Nikola was a teenager. In 2007 was voted the best young player in Montenegro and is a current member of the U18 national team. Was ranked as one of the top four players in Montenegro in 2005 and 2006. Says his dream job outside of basketball would be to become an actor. Wears the No. 5 because his sister was born on the 5th of September.